Gymnastics: Loss of Novins too much for Wellesley at state meet

Saturday

Mar 1, 2014 at 10:06 PMMar 1, 2014 at 10:13 PM

By Zack WardDaily News correspondent

SHREWSBURY — With their best overall gymnast — Olivia Novins — limited to just one event at sectionals the Wellesley girls gymnastics team never expected to make it to states.Through the effort of their two senior captains, the Raiders did just enough to qualify for Saturday’s state meet at Shrewsbury High School.But the Raiders knew they were at an even greater disadvantage with Novins not competing at all. The loss ultimately proved too much to overcome, as the Raiders finished in last place with a score of 136.950."She actually had an MRI and we found out that it was [a] broken [ankle]," said Wellesley head coach Melissa McManus of her star sophomore. "So she’s in a boot for the four weeks."We knew going into sectionals that we wouldn’t have [Olivia at full health]. So for [states] we kind of just decided to come into it and have fun and have a good meet for the seniors and just do our best and that’s what we did."As they did at sectionals, senior captains Alli Kelliher and Molly Harrington led the Raiders. Kelliher finished in ninth place overall at the meet with an all-around score of 35.600 and Harrington finished at No. 12 with 34.650. It was a solid finish to the duo’s third trip to states, the other two appearances coming in 2011 and 2012."It feels really good," Harrington said of making to states one last time. "It’s a sad ending that we ended without being able to compete to our fullest because Olivia wasn’t able to compete. But we had a really good meet and we all had fun while we were at it. And it was nice having no pressure because we knew we could only go up from eighth [seed]. So we just went and did what we had to do and it was good.""We didn’t even think we were going to make it here," Kelliher said. "So just getting here is great for us. And really we weren’t too worried about the outcome or the place we were going to get."The Raiders, who scored a 140.375 to place fourth at the South sectionals last Saturday, downgraded their sectional score in every event except vault, where they improved by 0.550. This was thanks in large part to their last competitor in that event in Kelliher, who came away with a 9.375 — her personal best at any event during a state meet and the highest score for Wellesley all day.The senior fell on her first attempt, but successfully landed a difficult jump on her second try."I was pumped, I was wicked happy," Kelliher said. "[On] my first fall, I didn’t really stand it up, so I was really determined to get the second one. And when I got the second one I was thrilled and it was a really good feeling.""I think we had a pretty good vault score today," McManus said. "Alli hit her vault … so that was really big for us. And Molly also vaulted, so we made up a little bit of what Olivia would have done."The Raiders were in last place at the midway point of the meet, but had yet to do beam, where Harrington excels. She couldn't deliver her typically high score, though she did place 13th overall in bars with a score of 9.050."I feel pretty good about [my scores]," Harrington said. "Everything was pretty good, except for beam I was a little disappointed with, but it’s OK. … I stuck at a lot of other meets.""I think Alli and Molly went into this just trying to make this the best meet they could for them as their last meet," McManus said. "I think they’re pretty happy with it and we’re happy with it."Barnstable, which dominated the South sectional and entered states as the No. 1 seed, won the meet with a score of 145.650. They move on to the New England regional meet along with second- and third-place finishers Andover and North Andover.While the Raiders finished in eighth, they are still tied for the second-most appearances at states in the past five years. They have been four times, as have Barnstable and Andover. Only Mansfield has been each of the past five years."It’s been really cool," said McManus, who has been with the team since 2009 and been head coach for two seasons. "We actually didn’t make it last year, we were sixth at sectionals. So we were really glad to be back and we really were excited that we did make it this year for our seniors."

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